The Government of Denmark has announced that it will ban the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines by 2030 by when it aims to have one million electric and hybrid cars on the roads. Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in a parliamentary speech that "diesel and petrol cars in Denmark must be the past. The future is green," adding that all sales of new fossil-fuel-powered cars will cease in 2030. For more information see the IDTechEx report on Electric Vehicles 2018-2038.

Rasmussen's energy minister, Lars Chr. Lilleholt, announced the ban during the government's climate council last week but did not mention a timeframe in any detail. "In just 12 years, we will prohibit the sale of new diesel and petrol cars. And in 17 years, every new car in Denmark must be an electric car or other forms of zero-emissions car," Rasmussen said, implying that hybrids will be phased out in 2035.

The Danish leader also upped the ante on the number of electric cars that will be on the road by 2030, saying there could be one million electric and hybrid cars by then. Rasmussen admitted it will "not be easy" to increase the number from a half-million suggested by climate council. Denmark currently has just over 2 million cars, so it would represent half the private fleet, unless total numbers increase in the meantime.

Electric car sales in Denmark are flagging after the government scrapped an incentive scheme at the start of 2017. Rasmussen's government decided to end a vehicle registration fee exemption for electric cars, instead opting for a scheme that would eventually bring it to parity with traditional vehicles by 2022.